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Natural Features & Ecosystems

Scotts Bluff, itself, is the main point of interest for most visitors. It is a high promontory, which rises approximately 800 feet above the North Platte River and 435 feet above the Visitor Center. For the pioneers, it was visible for several days before they actually reached it and it meant the end of the Great American Desert - the beginning of the Rocky Mountains.

Though the bluff continues to instill interest for its geological history and views, many visitors do not appreciate the bluff's mixed-grass prairie with its vegetation and animals. Approximately 40% of the Monument's land is prairie. A study conducted in 1997 found some of the best native mixed-grass prairie of western Nebraska to be in Scotts Bluff National Monument.